Economy in Brief: 2011

In a sign of job market healing, initial claims for jobless insurance fell to 428,000 last week versus an upwardly revised 432,000 during the week prior, initially reported as 428,000. The latest compared to Consensus expectations for [...]

The labor market improved last month after being hit by a tsunami and floods. In its latest National Employment Report, the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers, indicated [...]

German foreign orders have shrunk in May as German domestic orders have spurted. Monthly disconnects occur in this series but this one is very large. With this month’s results the domestic orders are now carrying the burden of German [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during June again rose slightly. Nevertheless, the 11.6% m/m increase to 41,432 left them still near the cycle low. The uptick in announcements [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline rose one penny to $3.58 per gallon last week, still nearly the lowest level since mid-March. Since last month's peak, prices have fallen 38 cents but remain up nearly one-third versus last year. [...]

The June Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell to 53.3 from an unrevised 54.6 in May. The figure was just shy of Consensus expectations for 54.0. Since the series' [...]

EMU retail sales momentum is on the downswing. As we have seen in selected country level reports the European growth situation is losing some steam. Whereas in the US the MFG sector made some rebound for a very sharp drop in May the [...]

Commodity prices recently have given mixed signals about inflationary pressures and the economy. Gold prices have backed off their recent high and as of yesterday traded at $1,483 per ounce versus the mid-June level of $1,553. Showing [...]